BC-ATH--Doping-Savina

May 8, 2019

Russian runner Ksenia Savina has been banned for 12 years on charges of doping, complicity and tampering with a sample. The IAAF’s Athletics Integrity Unit says Savina is banned until May 2031. Her coach and husband Alexei Savin has been banned for four years for complicity and tampering.

MONACO (AP) — Russian runner Ksenia Savina has been banned for 12 years on charges of doping, complicity and tampering with a sample.

The IAAF’s Athletics Integrity Unit says Savina is banned until May 2031, when she will be aged 41.

Her coach and husband, Alexei Savin, has been banned for four years for complicity and tampering.

Russian state channel Match TV previously said Savina used the Ukrainian passport of a childhood friend from Crimea to compete internationally. That was after Russia was suspended by the IAAF in 2015 for running a state-backed doping program.

Savina competed from 400 to 1,500 meters but did not qualify for major championships.

She was provisionally suspended last year for using the banned blood-booster EPO.